Shirley Wins, by Todd Taylor

Todd Taylor, Razorcake publisher and editor, wrote his first novel: Shirley Wins.

Shirley's a grandmother who's designed and built the world's most powerful pumpkin-launching cannon. At her side is Rachel, Shirley's bright and quiet granddaughter, a budding geneticist electrified by punk rock. Shirley's interest in physics is re-ignited one day in a supermarket parking lot. Through the elating dance of discovery, the painful crunch of broken bones, and the shame of failed experiments, she vaults her head down the loaded barrel of life's biggest consequences while carefully calculating a brand new trajectory for herself. Shirley Wins is a novel of not giving up and not giving in. It's a story about punching the world back in the arm.